No, it's still be going slow. The very short story is "Lenz's Law" (IIRC), but basically this of it like this:
top
|
|N
|S
|
As the south pole falls down, it induces currents in the part of the pipe below it which tend to form a south pole to inhibit the movement (a north pole is also formed, above the south pole which also adds to the effect)
As the north pole falls down, it also induces currents, in the part of the pipe above, which tends to form a south pole above it and a north pole below it, and both of those effects act to retard the acceleration of the magnet.
Perhaps easiest to visualize as:
s s
N
n | n
n | n
S
s s
where the lowercase letters are the poles in the piping formed from the eddy currents as the magnet falls.
> As the north pole falls down, it also induces currents, in the part of the pipe above, which tends to form a south pole above it and a north pole below it, and both of those effects act to retard the acceleration of the magnet.
Yes, that was exactly my point.
So it is not just a 'repelling' force, there is attraction involved as well. The 'root' comment just mentioned 'repels' as if that was the whole story, but it clearly isn't.
As the north pole falls down, it also induces currents, in the part of the pipe above, which tends to form a south pole above it and a north pole below it, and both of those effects act to retard the acceleration of the magnet.
Perhaps easiest to visualize as:
where the lowercase letters are the poles in the piping formed from the eddy currents as the magnet falls.